HAPPY NEW YEAR — may all your gardens be weed free and your flowers and bushes grow as fast as the horse tail.
Here we go, another winter season in another year of fantastic gardening here on the fabulous, never-hot, never-cold Olympic Peninsula.
Today let’s talk about jobs. Today is Day 6 of mid-early winter, which means the sunlight is getting longer at both ends of the day. Make use of it with these gardening chores.
The compost pile
If you have a compost pile this time of year, it has its own concerns. First, make sure you stir or turn over the pile. The outside crust of your compost pile won’t just sit there and turn moldy. Too much moisture can also be detrimental. Too much water can radically slow down the process. Think about all the water we just had. Check your pile carefully. Does it sit in a well-drained area? Are you in an area where rain just saturates the heap? For most, a tarp over the pile every other week or during massive downpours, does a perfect job of shielding against excessive moisture. Remember, air is another mandatory element of composting. Do not put tarps or plastic atop your compost pile — it won’t be able to breathe. Keep a few inches between the cover and the pile.
Pruning
I am extremely concerned about our higher-than-normal temperatures this year. Just this week, I have seen French pussy willows in bloom, geranium baskets still flowering, willow trees trying to re-green leaves and witch hazel in flower. I have even seen Scotch broom and daylilies in bloom. Get those pruners, lopers and saws in top condition. Survey your plants. Assess not only their current growth, but determine where this year’s growth will go. You will then have an inventory of pruning tasks. I will, in the next few weeks, write solely on pruning. But let’s wait another week or two for frost.
House plants
Your house plants are sitting in your closed-up house, heaters on, getting dusty. January is a perfect time for a tropical shower. Using tepid water, place your plants in a bath and shower them down. Be vigorous and splash all the leaves. Upside, downside, right, left and all around, wash the heck out of them. Then let them stand for a few hours, shaking out the water on them a few times. Don’t be alarmed by falling leaves. This is a natural response to winter’s sunlight. Do not fertilize them now or prune them. Repeat the shower in February, then again in March for optimum results.
Roses
Now is the required time to strip all remaining large, old leaves from your plants. Are your roses in bloom and full of rust and black spot? Do not, again contrary to rose books, prune them. Our weather is just too mild here now for that! Stripping the leaves will help set dormancy without stimulation. Remove old leaves from the soil surface. That is how the diseases re-enter roses. Finally, add a new couple of inches of fresh mulch and never, ever put the diseased leaves in the compost pile.
Weeds
Here is my great concern when I see weeds sprouting and growing everywhere due to our extremely warm winter weather (constantly in the 50s). Get these weeds now or they will become a wild horde overrunning your entire garden.
Mulch and top-dress
This brings me to mulching landscape areas and top dressing your plant beds with a layer of soil. First, who can’t use some more topsoil in their flower and vegetable gardens? Really, who? Second, mulching your landscape now holds in the moisture for those long, dry summer months and, over time, improves your soil structure. But, especially now, these two chores will smother your emerging weeds, so you get two jobs done with one task.
Garden and seed catalogs
Order as many gardening catalogs as you can. February is the time to start ordering. If you buy a garden magazine now, there will be numerous offers for plant, seed and bulb catalogs.
Happy 2025 everyone and remember … stay well all!
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Andrew May is a freelance writer and ornamental horticulturist who dreams of having Clallam and Jefferson counties nationally recognized as “Flower Peninsula USA.” Send him questions c/o Peninsula Daily News, P.O. Box 1330, Port Angeles, WA 98362, or email news@peninsuladailynews.com (subject line: Andrew May).
